For the first time in the history of the 16 seasons of The Ultimate Fighter, only the fighters involved in the final fight made the card for the finale of the show.

Colton Smith defeated Mike Ricci to win the contract from The Ultimate Fighter following the season where coaches Roy Nelson and Shane Carwin led the way.

That situation was followed up with the news that 12 of the 16 fighters from the cast had been released from their UFC contracts, with only Smith, Ricci, Jon Manley and Neil Magny left on the roster once the dust settled. According to sources, Manley and Magny were scheduled to fight at the TUF 16 Finale, but an injury sidelined one of the fighters, so they were given a stay of execution.

TUF 16 castmember Sam Alvey was among those fighters that didn’t get to compete at the finale, and he says it was a big shock that not a single cast member was on the final show of the year last weekend in Las Vegas.

UFC president Dana White had exploded at the cast of this season’s show for not going for the kill more often and playing it safe in fights. Alvey now says his message was clear, and future competitors on The Ultimate Fighter need to know what’s expected of them.

“It was surprising. I know another fight was scheduled, but one of the guys from The Ultimate Fighter got injured, so that one got scratched, but it was only going to be four of a great cast. I guess they wanted to teach future seasons a lesson,” Alvey told MMAWeekly Radio.

“Don’t worry about winning a fight, punch with your chin up and hope you get a knockout cause that’s what they’re looking for.”

Like any fighter that doesn’t get a second chance, Alvey has a little bit of resentment in his voice because beyond his own situation there were several other fighters he believes should have gotten at least one more fight in the UFC.

Regardless, none of them did and now they have to battle their way back if they want another shot in the Octagon.

In the end, Alvey admits that he has no one to blame for the situation he’s in because he didn’t win and make it to the final fight, and that’s the only guarantee there is when you’re trying to get a contract from being on The Ultimate Fighter.

“Message received. It is what it is, but it comes down to I should have won. Those of us that were on the show, we should have won. That’s what’s important,” said Alvey.

“I’ll bet the future seasons of The Ultimate Fighter will be even bigger because we didn’t to get to fight.”

I like Alvey but he didn’t even win a fight after he made it into the house. Plus he had a pretty poor showing in his loss. I think this shows that Dana made the right move because now even the winless fighters are expecting to fight at the finale.

Timothy Malone

I was so glad Dana did this to send a message to these guys. They were way too concerned with playing it safe and winning. There are more famous fighters in the UFC that have lost the Ultimate Fighter than won it. They should be more concerned with looking like an impressive competitor than just going for that six-figure contract with boring performances.

Alex Anderson

This guys get paid ****, and no matter how careful they are, they’re always putting their health very much on the line every time they compete. Show some reason, and some respect, and acknowledge that they’re human beings, and therefore we can’t expect them to risk it all all of the time for our entertainment. Even if you’re exciting and make some short term success because of it, you will probably lose more in the long run as your body takes more punishment, and as you start to lose more fights because you’re reckless.

adam1848

This season was a complete waste of time and I’m glad Dana did what he did. It was a smart move to get Jones and Sonnen for the next season but even more importantly I hope they got some fighters on the cast who are well rounded and know why they are there. Even the local NEF shows up in Nowhere, Maine have better, more entertaining fighters on their roster than this last season of TUF. The problem is the tryout process. Instead of hosting tryouts in Vegas, they should be sending recruiters out to talk with the promoters and athletic commissions of the numerous local shows all over the country and find out which fighters are putting on consistently high quality, well rounded performances. Actually recruit athletes the way other sports do, instead of hoping that the best fighters in the country have the time and money to fly to Vegas for the possibility that they may be picked to continue on in the application process.

Seppo

UFC have signed way too many Ultimate Fighter competitors in the past. Even the majority of the winners from recent years are boring. I think they should sign 2-3 fighters from each season max. The series has to reach abroad for new talent, if the UFC truly wants to make MMA the king of combat sports. UFC cannot be just about the USA, you guys need to stop being so damn egocentric and wake up to the reality that USA is not the only country on the planet. The best unsigned, yet to be discovered talent lies outside the US.

you mean like TUF Brazil, and the Aussie vs. English edition? I think the UFC is expanding globally at the pace they can. So Seppo, they are doing what you suggest, but you must have missed it.

MMAFAN

The UFC is an American company.

Since Zuffa bought them 12 years ago they’ve had TUF seasons in Brazil, they just had the Australia vs UK show, and they had the USA vs UK a few years back, they’re constantly trying to tap into new markets.

You made it easy to taste fame and get a TUF finale spot as being a cast member, but now revoked that into something you must earn. No more TUF on a plate which is a better format.

Originally TUF meant, come on the show act like a child and gain attention which helps character build.

Look at all the people from TUF 1, why so many contracted?
Are they all really great fighters? Not at all!
You are only as good as your competition.

We where lead to believe Forrest & Bonner are decent fighters, only in context of fighting mediocre fighters, once against a top level fighter these guys are made to look like a joke.

Quarry, Leben etc… all **** in retrospect!

Advance*

You have some ridiculous standards. Forest was the light heavyweight champion. Diego, Koscheck and Florian all got title shots. Even Leben has 12 wins in the UFC. If you’re just mediocre you don’t last in the company for 7 years like Bonnar, Leben, Swick, etc.

You might have had a decent point if you didn’t single out what was clearly the best TUF class.

check check check

I think that guy who beat Alvey should have made it into the UFC. I think the only reason he lost to Manley was because that loudmouth in his corner ruined, ruined, the purity of the conquest because he was so arrogant and that fighter is so humble.

Q

Dam, I thought Dom Waters and Cameron did enough to at least fight once in the UFC

Tommy Blingshyne

plenty of horrible fighters got chances on the finale show, pretty lame the UFC pulled that…alvey has been doing well outside the UFC, their loss